Post-match quotes: Crew vs. New York Red Bulls

On the win:
I think it was a very good performance from beginning to end. The guys played solid against a good team. [New York] beat Kansas City 3-2, they beat [Real] Salt Lake 4-3 at home, obviously they were without [Thierry] Henry and [Tim] Cahill but they still had the momentum before this game and it’s tough to play against a team like this. We had a really good performance and had a little bit of luck but you need that to win games. The penalty today, I think, maybe the referee saw a little more than we did but if you score goals like the second one, that Pipa [Higuain] scored, that’s why we come to the stadium, that’s why we are coaching, that’s why we are playing, to see goals like that.

On closing out the game:
We always talk about responsibility and commitment. Those are two words that we a lot, and respect. You saw on the field today that the players respect each other and work for each other, even at the end. We always ask players to be vocal and help each other with whether it’s voice or some directions, we did that today. Maybe in the other games we didn’t.

On beating another first-place team:
I think it’s the [second] game we’ve won against a team that is in first place. Scoring goals, that was our problem all year. It’s not like we aren’t creating chances. But goals change the game. Scoring the first goal tonight, I saw, it gave confidence to a lot of the guys. We were in the right places, winning the ball, in front of our box and counter-attacking quick. That’s what it’s about. Sometimes you have to defend a little bit, but you have to defend with confidence. And that’s what we did today.

On Wil Trapp’s performance:
He usually plays that position so that he has more space, because there is space over there. Wil is a very good player. It’s one thing to use space but you have to find space. He’s finding that space very well. He’s complimenting Chad [Marshall] and Josh [Williams] and he’s creating that triangle which is always valuable. He’s keeping the ball for us.

On Trapp’s offensive play:
It was a good team effort defending and then obviously it was a good pass putting through Higuain in the right position. It was the right pass and the right decision putting Higuain through.
On Chad Barson’s performance this year:
This kid is like a rock. He gets hit in the head in the second half but this kid just wants to play. He does everything to get better. He’s the same way when we practice at Obetz. There are no sit-backs, there is no looking back, and he is always 100%. Today was a perfect example of that. Whether we play him on the left or play him on the right: the kid never complains.

On Matt Lampson’s saves:
I don’t think he had too much to do. It was a very good save in the second half when he tipped the ball off the crossbar. I think he had a little bit in the first half when there were those corners at the end of the half and there was a lot of traffic in front of him. We asked him at halftime to be more vocal and to have more presence in the box and maybe scare some of the guys going for the goal. In the second half he was very solid.

On Danny [O’Rourke] and Matias [Sanchez] missing from the lineup:
Danny is injured so he couldn’t go. And Matias took a knock in the game against Houston in the first half. He missed practice this week so I was afraid that if he was on the bench that I would use a player that could only go five minutes or ten minutes and then use a sub. I have to have 100% healthy guys on the bench.

On the length of those injuries:
Every injury is different and I hope they are going to be okay tomorrow or the day after tomorrow but we will have to see.

On impressing the new owner:
We have the new owner in the house so in the back of your head you try to impress him, try to do well and try not to disappoint him. I’m sure that was a kind of factor in winning tonight.

On the formation:
In the second half we were winning so that’s why we asked Dominic [Oduro] to drop a little more. I think he’s quicker than Higuain. His positioning is better when he’s a little bit deeper when he can pick up the ball and run at people. So that’s why we asked him to play behind Higuain. In the first half when [Higuain] was with [Jairo] Arrieta we asked him to go upfront and stay as high as possible and stay in the middle cause that’s where he’s dangerous. Sometime he drifts to one side and causes problems for the other team but also sometimes for us. I think he was responsible today. He wants the ball all the time and he scored a few goals. Going into Toronto next week, we will see. We play Toronto next so we will watch how they play against Seattle tonight and make a decision [on formation].

On Higuain’s chip goal:
He’s a special player. To be honest with you when he took that shot I was like “oh, don’t do it.” Then I looked at the goalkeeper and he was a good seven or eight yards in front of the line and I was like “if you’re going to do it, do it right now.” Probably he had this in mind way before I looked at the goal. We had Guillermo [Barros Schelotto] a few years ago who was capable of scoring goals like this too. It’s nice to watch.

On players not relying solely on Higuain:
Every player with the ball has to make a decision and has to make a choice. He has three choices: a very good choice, a second choice, and a third choice. You can see the players who are very, very good players are the first choice. Good players are second. There are more possibilities for Bernardo [Anor] and Wil Trapp to make a decision. Obviously Pipa [Higuain] wants the ball all the time, but is that the first choice or the second choice? It’s up to the player to decide what choice they will take. Today there were a lot of passes today that bypassed Higuain because there was no first choice. That’s how players can develop. Instead of relying on only Higuain they have to use other choices and they can get better with that. They know whether their pass was good or their pass was not good instead of just passing the opportunity to someone else. What if Higuain isn’t on the field next week? Then we are going to start with point A. That’s why for the development of our players we didn’t have to always make choice number one. And when they did, like Wil Trapp today, passes through to Higuain (the number one choice) and he did very well.

COLUMBUS CREW GOALKEEPER MATT LAMPSON

On his simple summary of the match:
We played hard, we scored more on the other team and we got three points.

On his team’s defensive efforts:
One of the biggest jobs as a goalkeeper is to give the team some confidence and when you make big saves they really thrive off of it and I think that is exactly what happened. I think the team was confident in me that they knew that we wouldn’t give up a goal today. I did my job and so did everyone else and that’s what happens when you get three points.

On his 74th-minute save:
I didn’t see it until real late. And I have to give credit to him [Espindola] because that was a hell of a shot. And I just got my body in the way and flung a flipper at it. And luckily it went off the crossbar.

COLUMBUS CREW MIDFIELDER WIL TRAPP

On what he saw leading up on his assist leading to Federico Higuain’s second goal:
There was a turnover in the midfield. I took a touch. Passed one of their midfielders and Pipa [Federico Higuain] was running through and the space was open. I played it through and you could have not asked for a better finish from him.

On his sister singing the national anthem and his first assist in MLS:
It’s is a little bit of the monkey off the back. Once you get the first goal, that will be the real celebration time. And for my sister singing, she did really well. Way better than I would have ever done out there. She made us [Trapp family] proud. I am sure my parents are very proud.

On the overall significance of the win moving forward:
This is huge for us, because the three losses in a row were a little tough, and to come home and play a complete game like we did against a good team like New York is huge. We have to build off of that.

NEW YORK RED BULLS ASSISTANT COACH ROBIN FRASER

On penalty decision:
When he blew the whistle I thought he was calling that Luis had been fouled. Certainly I was surprised. I haven't seen it yet, but certainly a disappointing way to go down. There's contact on every ball that's crossed in the box. I haven't seen it so I can't really comment on it.

On the loss:
I think that we didn't come with the right mentality and as a result we put ourselves behind the eight ball. But to be fair we hung in there, plugging along, trying to find a way forward and obviously a disappointing goal to give up.

On Higuain's second goal:
Class. It's a turnover in an inopportune spot, a good ball that gets him in. He's a very good player and he took his opportunity very well. On halftime thoughts:
Happy being that we were on the road and haven't played particularly well, still in the game, change a few things, adjust a few things and come out and make a difference in the second half. So I would say we were satisfied to be 0-0 at the half, but we certainly felt that it had to be better.

On the play of Luis Robles:
We've seen it time and time again this year where Luis [Robles] has been able to pull off great saves to keep us in games. That's what you need in a goalkeeper: occasionally to make the save that's going to give your team the opportunity to maybe turn around and do something special at the other end. I felt like tonight he certainly did that again. NEW YORK RED BULLS GOALKEEPER LUIS ROBLES

On tonight’s performance:
I was really surprised on how the second half went - the first half we came out with a game plan too. We knew that we were on the road and we didn’t want to sit too far back, but at times we did, that was the way the game dictated it [NYRB game plan]. In the second half, once that penalty got called on us, it just completely changed the whole scope of the game. I think from our standpoint, we just have to react better and understand that some calls are going to go our way and some aren’t – but regardless, it’s about how we react to it.

On Higuain’s performance:
You can see that the whole game [Higuain’s impact on the match], there’s a reason why he’s featured here [in the Crew’s lineup] – he’s definitely got, not only the ability to change the game, but his runs today killed us. I think it’s a great combination they [the Crew] have with Oduro, Arrieta, and Higuain – and he [Higuain] just took advantage of the chances he got, so lots of credit to him.

NEW YORK RED BULLS DEFENDER BRANDON BARKLAGE

On tonight’s performance:
We are very disappointed. Once again on the road I don’t think we came out with one hundred percent effort – we just have to bounce back next week.

On the second half:
That completely changed the game. We still have to look at the replay, but I still don’t know exactly what happened on the foul. I think everyone was kind of crashing the net and it just so happened that they called a push. I don’t know, I’ve got to look at it – we’ve just got to stay positive.

On Luis Robles’ performance:
He was fantastic. He had a handful of very good saves and kept us in the match – if it wasn’t for him, it would have been 5-0.

On the Crew:
That’s not a bad team at all. Especially at home, with the way they played tonight, you can tell that they can keep the ball, they have a game plan, and they stick with it. They put us under pressure for a large portion of the game and congrats to them.